IS group loses most territories it held in Iraq: spokesman

The Iraqi army says the territory held by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the Arab country has shrunk from 40 percent to less than seven percent over the past three years.

Iraqi forces liberated the western cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in June and December respectively a year ago and the central city of Tikrit in March 2015.

Three members of the same family were killed by a US -led coalition in Iraq's northern city of Mosul, according to a local anti-terrorism officer.

The terror group removed one ear from 33 soldiers caught fleeing the battle in Mosul, their last stronghold in Iraq, a source told Alsumaria News.

The coalition has come under criticism following the deaths last month in west Mosul of scores of civilians in an air strike it admitted may have been its own.

Iraq's command of the joint operations in Mosul said it was not in rush to liberate the western flank of the city, stressing that "it is only a matter of time".

Various members of the forces, Iraqi and foreign, battling the jihadists have disagreed in the past on control of territory figures but IS has been losing ground steadily over close to two years.

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The push against the jihadis in Western Mosul is bogged down with Iraqi security forces fighting in a warren of small streets in the old part of the city.

Fighting in Iraq's second city has been ongoing since October previous year, with Iraqi forces backed by Shia militias and coalition air support now fully in control of the eastern part of the city.

Islamic State has used hundreds of vehicle bombs along with drones rigged with explosives in Mosul.

Colonel Dorrian said the fight in Western Mosul had been tough but said Islamic State fighters had no escape.

"Though the fighting is going to be very hard. this enemy is completely surrounded". Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been displaced, and many have been unable to return even after the fighting because of demolished infrastructure and the lingering threat of attacks.

The federal police said in a statement on Tuesday they have been reinforcing their positions in Western Mosul in preparation for a push on the al-Nuri Mosque where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate in 2014.

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